Haimo's voice was perfectly steady, without the slightest hint of breathlessness. The heavy iron hammer in his hand blurred through the air, striking precisely at an angled corner on the ore's edge.
"But that depends on whether you still want the scraps I promised to use to modify your Familia's weapons."
"If not, you can go find them in the corridor right now."
At those words.
Loki's motion of pressing down on the bellows abruptly froze. Then she pulled the lever up even harder, looking as though she was about to cry.
"I knew it! Haimo, you bastard! I knew you two were in cahoots!"
"He's even been a bad influence on Hephaestus!"
Loki loudly aired her grievances, but her hands not only kept moving, they sped up, making the flames in the furnace shoot higher.
Time slowly passed amid the ringing of hammers.
Before long.
Half an hour had passed.
"Hiss-!"
An extremely dense cloud of white steam surged into the air.
The boiling coolant in the quenching tank gradually settled.
Haimo set down his hammer.
Hephaestus used tongs to lift out what was inside and placed it on the black iron workbench beside her.
The final step was complete.
The work was done.
There was a loud clang.
Loki let go of the bellows lever and collapsed unceremoniously onto the stone steps in a corner of the Workshop, gasping for breath as her chest heaved.
"Finally... finally done..."
Loki wiped the sweat from her face. Both arms felt as though they no longer belonged to her, trembling with soreness.
She raised her head.
With some curiosity, she looked toward the workbench, wanting to see just what those two had made after all her hard labor.
Yet.
When her gaze passed Haimo's arm.
What lay on the black iron